Uses for Chicory

Chicory ( Cichorium intybus L).

When flowering, chicory has a tough, groove, and more or less a hairy stem, from 10 to 40 inches tall. The leaves are stalked, lanceolate and unlobed The flowers are usually bright blue, sometimes white or pink.

Time of Year: All year (flowers from July to Oct.)
 

Location: All of North America

Click Here for map  If it does not grow in your area do a search to see what kind does

Nutrient Content

Vitamin A and C, Iron, Calcium, good fiber

USES

Flowers, Leaves and Roots. 

Editable use

• YES!! Another coffee substitute plant. Like Holly is!  But this is caffeine free but still has the taste. The young roots have a caramel taste and the older roots are more bitter. The Roots can be roasted into a coffee grind. In fact is still used as filler in many coffees.

• Leaves can be used in salads. Summer ones are bitter and should be blanched. Winter are not as bitter .

• Flowers make a yummy surprise in any dish

• Boil the roots and they are like a parsnip

• You can boil down the roots to make a sweetener (you would do this the same way you do it to sugar beets.)

• Use the roots in soups and sauces as a thickener  

Medical Uses

• Best time to harvest the roots for medical purposed is in the fall.

• The root extract help to slow the heart down

• You can use the latex in the stem to treat warts

Other Uses

• Because the plant is high in sugar it can be turned in to alcohol

• The leave make a blueish dye